Western Connecticut State University receives federal mental health funding

Updated 6:11 pm, Friday, September 22, 2017

Western Connecticut State University will receive more than $1.6 million over the next four years to expand and improve programs focused on training students to respond to mental health crises.

The funding is part of a federal grant awarded to the Danbury-based university and the University of Connecticut on Friday.

WCSU is expected to received $421,000 each year for four years, making it the largest grant the university has received.

The money was awarded through the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program, which was reauthorized as part of U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy’s Mental Health Reform Act. The program expands the behavioral health workforce and trains new mental health providers, such as psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and paraprofessionals.

UConn received nearly $179,000 to recruit, train and place social workers in underserved areas of Connecticut with a focus on integrated care.

As grant recipients, UConn and WCSU are expected to help close the gap in access to behavioral health care services by recruiting new behavioral health professionals and providing opportunities for field placement, job placement, and career development services, according to the news release.

“Too many kids and adults with mental health needs in this country don’t get the timely care they need for one reason: we don’t have enough trained behavioral health specialists to care for them,” Murphy said. “I worked hard to reauthorize this grant program as part of my Mental Health Reform Act because I believe that it should be as easy to access a doctor or get prescriptions for an illness of the mind as it is for an illness of the body.”

Dr. Gabriel Lomas, professor of education and educational psychology at WCSU, applied for the grant.

“A key aspect is to grow our program so we can increase the behavioral health workforce in the area,” Lomas said. “We will be able to place more students in primary care with physicians and train all students in the behavioral health program in trauma and crisis models. If we have space, members of the community will be able to take the training, too.”

Now Playing:

Lomas came to WCSU with a deep background in helping communities respond to crisis. He was a member of a school-based crisis response team and clinical crisis response team in Texas, and he helped to create a Regional Crisis Team in the western part of Connecticut to assist area schools in crisis response preparation.

“WCSU prides itself in being a community partner, developing curricula that are responsive to regional needs,” said WCSU Provost Dr. Missy Alexander. “This grant is just another example of our commitment to Danbury and the surrounding area. We are extremely proud of Dr. Lomas and the work that he has done to secure these funds.”